Written by Han 2022 Cohort
BL is the abbreviation of boy’s love. It is a subculture prevalent among East Asian women. It has a poetic name in China called “耽美（dan mei),” which means beauty seeking. It should be noted that, to some extent, it is divorced from the real gay men in reality and is a world created and consumed almost entirely by women. So why is a culture without women popular among women? I think there are several reasons.
The pursuit of an equal relationship
In traditional works on male-female relationships, women are usually secondary, passive and dependent on men. This is not in line with contemporary women’s identification with their image in a relationship and their desire for independence and autonomy. In reality and the works produced by reality, there is a lack of construction and writing about equality between men and women. The same gender is given more consideration in traditional and regular relationships. Some women project their desire for equality in relationships onto men’s bodies and become men to create an equal connection with the ideal man.
The Repressed and misplaced sex
Another reason for the popularity of BL is that one part has a bold and explicit sexual depiction. But perhaps the reason for its wider acceptance than the traditional depiction of male and female sexuality is that for women, even today, when the concept of chastity has been considered eradicated, sex is still considered to be hidden and shameful. Therefore, they use this form to remove themselves from being participants in sex, to be satisfied as bystanders, or to be mentally satisfied by participating in sex with the male body.
Meanwhile, In what most people perceive as incorporated sexual intercourse, women often act submissive and take more physical risks, especially in terms of illness or pregnancy. Because incorporation is a procreative act rather than a sexual act, the female sexual organ is the clitoris outside the body. It does not need to be incorporated to be satisfied. The long-standing inversion of the act of procreation as sexuality and the real world’s lack of conception and awareness of the female as a sexual subject lead women to desire sexuality which is an act of procreation. And such sexuality is psychologically burdensome and physically risky for them, and they want to circumvent these bad parts both mentally and cognitively, so they choose to borrow men to accomplish it.
The Longing for power
In the world of BL, men are usually set up to be cool; they have gorgeous appearances, thick financial resources and strong personalities; they have great strength, call the shots, have solid friendships, to treat one another with absolute sincerity. It is undeniable that these days portraying a powerful male character is still more convincing than women. It is a potential misogyny and a fact that people usually believe that male characters are in a higher position than women and that men have better same-sex relationships and qualities. So women project these qualities onto men when they project their fantasies.
I think BL is somewhat progressive compared to traditional romantic ideas; it expands the scope of love beyond men and women and, to a certain extent, broadens the acceptance of the LGBT community. But it is a misogynistic culture that formally excludes women, writes about an all-male world or continues to treat women as supporting characters or spectators, removes women’s subjectivity, and lends women’s physical and spiritual needs to the male body and gender.
I hope that one day women will be able to identify more with their sex and write stories that are genuinely their own.